Spirit Reaper - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Huang Tianying, the Great Immortal Huang — Encountering a Weasel Asking for a Title? Playing Dumb…

Under the silvery moonlight, a weasel about forty centimeters long, with smooth and glossy fur, was squinting its eyes and repeatedly waving its paws at Yu Wuyi.

In such an eerie scene, an ordinary person would likely have been scared witless. But Yu Wuyi was no ordinary person. The moment she saw the creature, a specific thought flashed through her mind.

Is this a weasel “asking for a title” (Tao Feng)?!

Yu Wuyi’s eyes widened, and her brain began to spin at high speed.

She was well-acquainted with the folklore of weasels worshipping the moon to seek a title. Legend has it that when these animals reach a bottleneck in their cultivation, they appear before humans to ask for a “promotion.” The weasel is the most famous example of this.

If you encounter one and answer that it looks like a “human” or an “immortal,” it will break through its bottleneck and its cultivation will advance. If you answer that it looks like an “animal” or anything else, its centuries of cultivation will be destroyed, sending it back to square one overnight.

Animals that have attained human-like intelligence are vengeful. If you incur their wrath, not only will the person who gave the answer suffer, but their descendants will never know peace.

However, don’t think that simply following its lead and giving a positive answer is the right move. Everything has a price; what the immortal gains, the human loses. The petty favors it might promise are far outweighed by what the human forfeits. Furthermore, if it truly receives a title, the person becomes entangled in its “Karma.” If the newly-ascended immortal commits evil, the retribution falls on the human’s head.

Neither a “yes” nor a “no” works; usually, the person is trapped in a dilemma. Fortunately, throughout generations of tradition, a way to crack this predicament was found.

“Abba abba… hehehe…”

“I am me, he is me, then who am I…”

Yu Wuyi turned into a master of facial expressions. She let out a silly, gaping grin and began to swing her arms rhythmically as she walked. She looked like a complete and utter fool.

That’s right—the best way to deal with a weasel asking for a title is to play dumb.

Seeing her like this, the weasel’s expression practically fractured. It stiffly twitched its mouth and reached out a paw, grabbing the hem of Yu Wuyi’s pants as she tried to wander past.

“You brat… you have no respect for your elders.”

Wait, what happened to ‘playing dumb allows you to dodge it’? Why is it different for me? It’s literally pulling me back by my pants!

Yu Wuyi’s mouth remained agape in a grin, but the depths of her eyes were already glistening with tears of regret. She shouldn’t have taken the shortcut.

But in truth, she was more confused than anything. Legend says the “Hu and Huang” (Fox and Weasel) immortals don’t cross the Shanhai Pass. Lincheng was in the south—a highly modernized metropolis. How could she be so “lucky” as to run into a weasel seeking a title here?

Unless… it was coming for her specifically.

Calming herself down, Yu Wuyi centered her mind and performed a quick calculation. She actually managed to derive something. The creature tugging at her pants wasn’t some wild animal at a bottleneck; it was a Great Immortal with a thousand years of cultivation. It had no need to ask a mortal for a title.

Having figured this out, Yu Wuyi changed her persona again. She shook her head and gave the “Huang Immortal” her friendliest smile. “Forgive my blindness. I didn’t realize the Great Immortal had stopped this junior. May I ask what business you have?”

Seemingly “impressed” by her extreme face-changing skills, a flicker of daze passed over the weasel’s face. It quickly recovered, let go of her pants, and put its paws behind its back.

“You brat, you change your tune fast. Truly one who can bend and stretch.”

“This Immortal was entrusted by the elder of your house to come find you.”

“Entrusted by my elder? To find me?” Yu Wuyi pointed at herself, a guess forming in her mind. “May I ask the Great Immortal’s name?”

“Hmph. Telling a junior like you might scare you to death.” The immortal tilted its head up and said slowly, “This Immortal is Huang Tianying of the Huang Family.”

Upon hearing the name, Yu Wuyi understood immediately. This wasn’t a wild spirit—this was one of her family’s own!

When she was a child, she had glimpsed her family’s altar. Led by the Great Grandma Hu, the tablets of various sizes were stacked like a mountain. She was naturally familiar with the name of the Old Immortal, Huang Tianying.

Since it turned out to be her own “boss,” Yu Wuyi completely relaxed. she gestured for the immortal to wait, ran to a nearby convenience store, and bought a pack of the finest slim cigarettes.

“Here, here. It must have been a long trip from Grandma’s place to mine. Let me light one for you.”

“Good. You’re a sensible brat.” Huang Tianying closed its eyes, inhaling the smoke as if it were incense. “No wonder our family thinks highly of you.”

“Your grandmother couldn’t stop worrying about you, so she sent me to assist you.”

“Tomorrow, set up an altar in your home. Place a statue of a Huang Immortal and write my name on yellow paper with gold powder. Then I can stay here temporarily.”

“To come here, our family had to give quite a few bribes to the City Gods.”

“You must get on it immediately, do you hear me?”

“Yes, yes.” Yu Wuyi listened intently and nodded repeatedly. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it done perfectly!”

At the same time, she was secretly overjoyed. With an Old Immortal’s protection, even if there was something in that apartment, it would have to back down in minutes! Heaven was truly helping her!

By the time she snapped out of her beautiful fantasy, Huang Tianying had already vanished without a trace. With the immortal gone, Yu Wuyi didn’t linger and hurried home.

Returning to the apartment that had given her nightmares, Yu Wuyi now felt a surge of confidence. She barked toward the empty room: “I don’t care what you are! Tomorrow, the Great Immortal Huang Tianying is moving in! You’d better behave yourselves!”

Only silence answered her.

“…Alright, maybe I was being a bit dramatic.”

After a busy day and having her nap interrupted by a nightmare, Yu Wuyi was truly exhausted. She took out a rose-scented bath bomb, intending to take a long soak. However, once her mental guard dropped, she drifted off to sleep against the edge of the tub.

“Hey! Hey! Hey!” The little girl’s voice from before rang in her ear again.

Blurry-eyed, Yu Wuyi looked up and met the gaze of the little ghost in the “paper effigy” makeup. This time, Yu Wuyi was bolder. Seeing the little ghost leaning over the tub with a resentful look, she reached out and poked her head, pushing her further away.

“The lesson this afternoon wasn’t enough? You dare come back? I’m telling you, you can’t scare me anymore. Give up on that idea.”

“Lest people say I’m bullying a child.”

“You adults are all the same! Always bullying kids!” The little girl snapped, putting her hands on her hips.

“Say whatever you want.” Yu Wuyi looked away and waved her hand. “If you have nothing to say, leave. I need to rest so I can welcome my Huang Immortal tomorrow.”

“I do have something! I have business!”

“I want to find my mother. She ran away from home, and I can’t find her anymore.” The little girl lowered her head, her fingers twisting together, her tone dejected. After a while, seeing no response, she looked up and shouted: “Since you broke into my house to live here, you have to help me find my mom!”

“Otherwise, I’ll annoy you every single day! Until you agree!”

“…”

As the saying goes, “little ghosts are hard to deal with.” Once they target you, it’s a nightmare. Seeing the “I’ll stick to you until death” look on the girl’s face, Yu Wuyi sighed and nodded.

“Fine, I promise.”

“But you have to promise not to enter my dreams anymore. I can see you normally; you don’t need to hide or pop up like this. I just want a good night’s sleep.”

Seeing her agree, the little girl’s expression changed instantly. With a shake of her head, the terrifying makeup vanished, replaced by a cute, innocent face.

“Big Sister, I knew you wouldn’t let me down! Thank you in advance!”

“Oh, by the way… tell that mean sister inside your jade pendant to stop hitting me. I, Xiao Yu, almost got beaten into scattered mist today…”

Hmph. If I hadn’t seen her change faces so fast, I really would be fooled by this innocent look.

“Fine, fine, I got it. Now go, go.”

Xiao Yu nodded and her figure became transparent. Once she vanished completely, Yu Wuyi woke from her dream. She hurriedly finished her bath, put on her pajamas, and went up to the second floor.

The moment her foot hit the second floor, she saw Xiao Yu hiding in a corner, watching her. Seeing Yu Wuyi look over, the ghost gave a harmless smile.

“…”

“Go downstairs. I can’t sleep with a ghost staring at me.”

She watched as Xiao Yu pouted and floated downstairs reluctantly. Only then did Yu Wuyi truly relax. She took out the “Yin-Yang Key” she got from Song Miao and, with a thought, summoned the Underworld Map.

Emissary, welcome back. Yin-Yang Key detected. Use? Once used, the user can travel to and from the Underworld once per week.

After so long, the mechanical system voice actually felt friendly. She nodded and replied, “Confirm use.”

Once a week was already quite convenient compared to before. Though more often would be better.

Key used successfully. User can move via the ‘To Underworld’ button on the map.

The key turned into a circle of light and settled in the top-right corner of the map. Three blood-red characters appeared: “To Underworld.”

Resisting the urge to rush there immediately, she put the map away and picked up the jade pendant Qin An had given her.

“Qin An? Qin An? Are you there?” she whispered, poking the jade.

After waiting a while with no response, Yu Wuyi pouted in disappointment. “Fine, ignore me then. Just focus on healing. I’ll take care of things in the human world.”

Holding the jade pendant, she felt a strange sense of security. She soon fell asleep again—this time, with no annoying nightmares.

When she woke up the next morning, warm sunlight was streaming through the large windows. Rubbing her eyes, she opened them only to find Xiao Yu sitting by her bed, staring at her expectantly.

“You kid… you can’t even be quiet in the morning?” Yu Wuyi clutched her chest, her features scrunching up. “This is seriously terrifying.”

“I’m sorry…” Xiao Yu’s mouth turned down, and she spoke in a small, tearful voice. “I just want to find my mom quickly. I miss her so much…”

“Big Sister, you said you’d help me find her…”